Hair bundle effects such as highlighting and dyeing effects are a popular and conventional way of changing appearance. Although many devices and methods to apply hair treatment compositions to hair bundles are known in the art, performing the same by consumers at home remains difficult.
The level of instructions provided by manufacturers of consumers' products for imparting hair bundle effects is generally confined to how to mix and safely apply the hair treatment composition onto the hair. Some limited information is provided on where to apply the hair treatment composition on the hair by means of illustrations. However, very few details are given with regard to the appropriate number of hair strands to be selected to achieve the expected hair bundle effect as described or shown in the illustrations.
The cap and hook system for creating highlighting is well known in the art. The cap (2) is provided with holes as shown in FIG. 1. The cap (2) is positioned tightly over the hair and the scalp; a hair bundle (11) is then selected by pulling out the hair bundle (11) through the hole with a hook (3). This step is repeated for a plurality of hair bundles. The selected hair bundles are then treated with a highlighting composition. The cap and hook system suffers from several drawbacks. First, the process of pulling the hair bundles through the holes in the cap is painful. Second, the choices as to the location of the hair bundle to be treated are limited to where the holes are in the cap. Thirdly, the process of pulling the hair bundles through the holes can lead to unexpected end results, because the hair bundle pulled through the hole does not necessarily come from the scalp directly below the hole. In addition, the repetitive use may deform the holes of the cap but not uniformly and thus, the cap may not reliably provide for a constant size of the hair bundles pulled through the holes.
Some alternatives to the cap and hook system are proposed in FR2444421, U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,647 and FR2495905. Nevertheless, none of these disclosures provide a means that may be used not only for keeping a hair bundle separated from the remaining hair, but also for aiding the selection of a hair bundle comprising a number of hair strands appropriate for creating hair bundle effects, especially highlighting effects as provided at professional salons. Professional stylists create highlighting effects only using foils and their experience. At home, consumers in the absence of the technical expertise of professional stylists are left alone to decide, select and separate hair bundles for creating a highlighting effect corresponding to the expected final look. The lack of information and experience may lead to inconsistent results and user dissatisfaction.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an easy to apply, light, comfortable and cheap to manufacture means for separating a hair bundle from the remaining hair, without special training, wherein the selected hair bundle comprises a number of hair strands appropriate for highlighting.